Top 50 Position Players in Major League Baseball

Heres an early look at the top 50 position players in the Majors heading into spring training. This list is based off career stats, 2009 campaigns, defensive ability, intangibles, and potential. Not everyone can make the cut so there is also an honorable mention page.

No.'s 26-50 will be shortened, but the top 25 will have thier own page with an indepth profile of each and a reasoning for thier position on the countdown. The Career Avg Stats found on each of the top 25 players pages, are career stats averaged out over a 162 game season.

No. 25. Nick Markakis-RF-Baltimore Orioles

Some might feel this is a little high for the O's right fielder, but I personally am a giant fan of his. He does everything very well, but nothing spectacular. He would steal more bases if he wasn't depened onto to be the O's prime time hitter.

Markakis is more of a prototypical two hitter, but is doing a pretty good job in the three spot for Baltimore. Now that he's been in the league for a few years now, this will be a telling year if Markakis is still progressing or has reached the peak of his potential, either way he should be an All Star for the next decade.

No. 24. Kendry Morales-1B-Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

With major departures in the offense over the past few years, the Angels will depend on Morales to be the major run producer for years to come. Morales, Torii Hunter and Bobby Abreu are a pretty good middle three, but with Hunter turning 34 in July and Abreu turning 36 in March, it'll be Morales who will be looked at as the premier hitter in the lineup. After a monster 09, Mike Scoscoia and Co. hope Morales can continue his fantastic two-way play.

No. 23. Carlos Pena-1B-Tampa Bay Rays

Pena is the worst hitter for average in the top 25, but only a few others can match his power numbers. The past years he has hit 46 home runs in 2007, 31 in 08, and 39 in 09, while driving in 100 runs in each of those seasons. To go along with his great power, he's also a very good defensive first basemen, winning the AL Gold Glove in 2008. If Pena can get the strikeouts down and the batting average up he'd be considered a top 10 player.

No. 22. Dustin Pedroia-2B-Boston Red Sox

Pedroia is the type of player, you love to hate when he's playing against your team, but thier are 29 Major League teams and thier fans who'd love to have the scrappy BoSox infielder on thier team.

The former Arizona State Sundevil, in only three and half seasons, has already won the Rookie of the Year, Gold Glove, Silver Slugger, AL MVP, and a World Series ring. My advice, make more room in your trophy case, Dustin.

No. 21. Matt Kemp-CF-Los Angeles Dodgers

You might saying to yourself, this is a little high for Matt Kemp, but the young Dodger center fielder won both the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger this year. He is one of the best young players in baseball and could take the next step this year into a superstar. Kemp is young, fast, can hit for power and average and is a great fielder. Plus, dating Rihanna has to account for something. (I will not make a Chris Brown joke here, even though i really want to.)

No. 20. Kevin Youkilis-1B-Boston Red Sox

Youk is one of those baseball players that just gets it, the Red Sox and the Green Monster are a perfect fit for him, and thats why he's so good. (Right player,right situation) With an unorthodox batting stance, and an exceptional defensive player, Youk has been dubbed "The Greek God of Walks" by Billy Beane and Michael Lewis in the book Money Ball. My guess, either him or Pedroia will be named captain of the "Nation" when Jason Varitek retires.

No. 19. Matt Holliday-LF-St. Louis Cardinals

Holliday struggled with no one to protect him or to get on in front of him in Oakland, so he finds a home in St. Louis giving one of the greatest hitters in history of the sport protection. Sure, St. Louis overpayed ($17.0 mill guaranteed for 7 years) but its a better situation than letting him walk and having Ryan Ludwick be Pujols protection. Holliday will overcome his blooper in the playoffs and rebound nicely. In 63 games in St. Louis, he hit .353 13 dingers and 55 rbi; imagine 155 games there.

No. 18. Ryan Howard-1B-Philadelphia Phillies

Maybe it's a little low for Howard, whose power is unreal. Had Howard hit even a little in the World Series, there would've at least been a Game seven and maybe the Phils have thier second straight World Championship.

No. 17. Troy Tulowitzki-SS-Colorado Rockies

Built like A-Rod, fields like Omar Vizquel, hits like Nomar (in his prime) and leads like Jeter. I'm more than comfortable naming Tulowitzki the best shortstop in baseball. An unbelivable defensive player, whose turning into the best offensive player at his position in the game. Watch for him to bump up those juicy 09 numbers in 2010.

No. 16. Miguel Cabrera-1B/DH-Detriot Tigers

Cabrera is only turning 27 in April, shocking but true. According to BaseballReference.com, for his age Cabrera has comparble stats to Ken Griffey Jr., Hank Aaron and Orlando Cepeda, pretty good company. With career stats of 209 homeruns, 753 rbi, 1,220 hits which is good for a .311 career batting average. Cabrera has jumped around in the field alot, playing third, first and both corner outfield positions, he should stay at first and designated hitter for the remainder of his career, which still has 10-12 years left.

No. 15. Manny Ramirez-LF-Los Angeles Dodgers

Ahh, the enigma that is Manny Ramirez. Sure, we can bring up the steroid issue, the on-field oddities and the off-field issues; but why talk about the negatives, when talking about one of the greatest right handed hitters of all time. He's got the sweetest swing in baseball, and absolutely mashes the ball to all fields.

He's never been a great fielder and thats definitely a slight against him, but a bat like his doesn't come around very often. I will argue that the steroids with Manny isn't as big of an issue as i belive it was with David Ortiz who came out of no where to become a great slugger. Manny steroids or not, played in an era where roids were common and thats just the way stats should be looked at from 1985-2006, in my eyes atleast. But there is no right answer to the PEDs question and how players stats should be looked at.

No. 14. Carl Crawford-LF-Tampa Bay Rays

How athletic is Carl Crawford? In high school he had scholarships to play point guard at UCLA and quarterback at Florida. Having said that I believe this year Carl Crawford finally takes the next step and develop into a complete animal at the plate. He has comparable statistics to Roberto Clemente at this point in thier career. Crawford is a once in a generation athlete, and it'll be intresting to see if hes hit a wall, or if we haven't seen anything yet.

No. 13. Adrian Gonzalez-1B-San Diego Padres

Fastest rising slugger in the game, has also snaked two consecutive Gold Gloves away from Albert Pujols. The hottest name in Hot Stove trade rumors for awhile now, Gonzalez has been dominating NL pitching since he got the full time first base job in 2006. If only he had someone else in that lineup that could hit worth a lick.

No. 12. David Wright-3B-New York Mets

The Mets poster boy was looking like a top five player in 2008, but 2009 was a bad year for the Mets in general. The losses of pretty much every other Mets starting position player effected David Wright pretty bad. His HR and RBI totals were much lower than his career average. Although one good stat for the Mets faithful is that he still hit 39 doubles even in an off year, which means hes stilling driving the ball into the gaps and at Citi Field thats not a terrible thing.

No. 11. Grady Sizemore-CF-Cleveland Indians

Part of you has to feel for the star centerfielder in Cleveland, the Indians hierarchy dismantled, what I thought was a team that was two-three players away from being a very good team for a decade.The two time Gold Glove winner, through five and half seasons he has comparable stats to Barry Bonds at age 27. Hopefully they can get some talent around Sizemore so he can showcase his multiple tools on the main stage.

No. 10. Evan Longoria-3B-Tampa Bay Rays

The 2008 AL Rookie of the year, showed he was no one hit wonder in 2009, it's scary when someone is this good, this young. Not only is he a pure hitter, but he's also great at the hot corner, winning his first of what looks like many Gold Gloves in 2009. The sky is the limit for Longoria.

No. 9. Ryan Zimmerman-3B-Washington Nationals

Well your looking at this page and saying either one of two things: A) Wow, i can't believe he has Ryan Zimmerman in the top 10 or B) Yes, finally someone else thinks hes a great ball player too.

Maybe im biased, he's my favorite player in the league and he's the best player the casual fan doesn't know of. Either way, there's no doubt on Zimmermans talent, the guy drove in 106 runs on the worst team in baseball! I could argue he's the best defensive player in the game, and he's quickly becoming one of the more clutch players in the game too. If in three or four years from now the Nationals turned things around, it'll be largely because of this guy.

No. 8. Prince Fielder-1B-Milwaukee Brewers

The Big Man, Prince Fielder proved this year that he's capable of destroying the ball each year. It's tough to find a more pure power hitter in the game, he's also an underrated defensive player, with a career .991 fielding percentage. Prince and his estranged father and former All-Star Cecil, are the only father-son duo to hit 50 homers in a season; a record that seems close to unbreakble.

No. 7. Mark Teixeira-1B- New York Yankees

Teixeira's first season in New York was argubly the best debut season for a big name free agent singing since the Yanks started spending the big bucks. Overall, he might've struggled in the playoffs, but he came up with some of the biggest hits in the playoffs, all while playing flawless defense. "Tesh" makes challenging plays look routine, and really thrived playing for the Bombers, losing the AL MVP to Joe Mauer (rightfully so), but I think he'll "settle" for his World Series ring. His second season in pinstripes could be a big one.

No. 6. Ryan Braun-LF-Milwaukee Brewers

"The Hebrew Hammer's" first three seasons are as good as any you'll see (besides maybe Albert Pujols and Lou Gherig). Braun and Prince Fielder compliment each other so perfectly its scary. The two of them have a chance to be very special for a long time. An underrated fielder, Braun led the NL in hits in just his third season.

No. 5. Chase Utley-2B-Philadelphia Phillies

Utley put together argubly one of the greatest performances for a losing team in World Series history this year (five of his six hits were home runs, driving in eight runs) Utley is the defintion of a "gamer," you'll never see him finish the game with a clean uniform. A good but not great fielder, who stole 23 bases while not being caught once this past season. For every steroid head there is, there are new emerging players like Utley, who make the game of baseball so unique.

No. 4. Alex Rodriguez-3B-New York Yankees

Wow, who saw that year coming? In Feburary 2009, the shocking story was broke of A-Rods steroid use. In May, he came back from hip surgery and got the Yanks on the right track and they won the AL East. And for his final act, he finally delivered on his obnoxious contract and put together one of the greatest post seasons of all time. Big hit after big hit, it's cliche but it was a great come back. I think it took A-Rod to hit rock bottom and be stripped of all his pride, to finally deliver the way he did in the playoffs. It was a wild ride, whats this year got in store for Rodriquez?

No. 3. Hanley Ramirez-SS-Florida Marlins

Hanley Ramirez put together one of the greatest seasons by a shortstop ever this past year. I woulda thought Hanley had a better shot of leading the NL in homeruns, than of winning the batting title, which he did hitting .342. Ramirez is stealing less bases now because hes being depended on as a three hitter, he also has a knack for making spectacular plays on defense. The best tools in baseball.

No. 2. Joe Mauer-C-Minnesota Twins

Three batting titles in four years, two straight Gold Gloves and one MVP. Joe Mauer is already a top five hitting catcher of all time, he's on pace to be argubly the greatest. The heads-up play he made against the Yankees this year, pump-faking on a throw to first to just turn around and diving all out to tag out the speedy Brett Gardner is one of the greatest plays you'll ever see in your life.

It'll be interesting to see what happens after this year, if he'll stay in his home state or replace Jason Varitek or Jorge Posada on thier respective teams. Joe Mauer is as good a catcher as he is a hitter, and thats a scary scary thing.

No. 1. Albert Pujols-1B-St. Louis Cardinals

Lets face it, and I don't need to say it to you, but Albert Pujols is probably the greatest player we'll ever see play (at least my generation). Pujols ranks up there with Aaron, Mays, Mantle, Ruth, Foxx, Rodriguez, Gherig, and Frank Robinson as the greatest sluggers of all time.

How good is he really? here are his career low stats: .314 Avg(2002), 32 HR(2007), 103 RBI(2007), .955 OPS(2002). Pujols has never finished out of the top 10 in MVP votings, and probably never will. Watch him and apperciate him, cause he's one of the all time greats.